EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite Environmental groups sued the Trump administration Monday over its move to repeal rules on oil and natural gas frackers that were a part of former President Barack Obama's broad climate change plan.

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt had initiated a process to delay the oil and gas regulations last week as the agency conducts a review. The rules have been called duplicative and unnecessary by the oil and gas industry.

The groups filing the suit said it's part of their effort to fight the Trump administration, which just last week withdrew from the Paris climate agreement.

"In the wake of the administration's withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement, the groups have filed a motion seeking to immediately stop the EPA action, marking the first legal challenge filed against a Trump Administration's EPA action to stay emission reduction requirements of a climate regulation," read a statement from the Clean Air Task, environmental lawyers leading the suit on behalf of the advocacy group Earth Works.

EPA's decision to delay the rule for three months while it evaluates the regulations is an attempt to get around its legal obligations to implement the climate rule for oil and gas, said Darin Schroeder with Clean Air Task Force, the lead lawyer in the suit.

"While EPA's stay is premised on its authority to 'reconsider' the 2016 Methane Rule, as a legal matter that tactic is simply not available to the Agency for this rule," he said. "EPA is attempting an end-around the law."

The environmentalists argue that the EPA regulation is the cornerstone of regulations finalized last year under the Obama administration, and are necessary to protect public health from methane emissions. Methane is a short-lived, but potent, greenhouse gas blamed by scientists for raising the Earth's temperature.

"Our lawsuit puts Trump on notice, even as he's withdrawing the U.S. from the Paris climate agreement," Lauren Pagel, policy director for Earthworks. "We will #resist every step of the way and ultimately, we will prevail."